"Tell me about Self." Clarté de soi et souvenirs définissant le soi: Particularités du self chez des individus souffrant d'un trouble de l'humeur

The present study focusses on a particular kind of autobiographical memories called self-defining memories (SDMs). SDMs are highly pertinent for self-building because they help to define in the most clearly way our perception of ourselves. If literature showed that depressed and bipolar patients suffer from autobiographical memory (AM) disturbances, SDMs have not been studied a lot since yet in these two disorders. Then, the present study pursues two main aims: (1) to assess SDM’s characteristics and (2) to assess the relationship between the ability to retrieve SDM’s and self-concept clarity. To reach our objective, 17 depressed and 16 bipolar patients are compared to 17 healthy subjects. Participants are asked to complete SDMs procedure that is recalling six important events which happened in their life. These SDMs are assessed on four variables: specificity, impact, valence, meaning making, contain. Self-concept clarity and mood are also assessed. Preliminary results do not highlight difference between our groups on specificity. Marginal effects appear for meaning making with healthy subjects recalling more meaning making events. Results show that depressed patients present a mood congruence. The final results will be presented during the convention, as data-collection is on-going and will end in April. Experimental and clinical implications of our results will be discussed.